Song Book Drive-In
old US 460 (now VA 751, Cox Rd.), Church Road, Va. (across from Midway
Elementary School)
known year of operation: 1947
currently: part of residential area
One of the more mysterious drive-ins I've
learned about, not least because of the odd choice of "The Song Book" to
name it. It's another of those mayfly-lived ozoners that one stumbles across
while researching others from the same era (I love when that happens). Seems
there were a LOT of those dotting rural Virginia in the '40s and '50s, probably
more than I've imagined. In this case it made its first appearance in the
Petersburg Progress-Index amusements section on July 11, 1947 (showing
that night: the Dead End Kids comedy Give Us Wings, also
with Shemp Howard). It disappeared a little more than three weeks later,
after a new drive-in opened much closer to Petersburg.
Got some additional information, or some pictures
or stories about this drive-in you'd like to share? Email me -- thanks!
